After seeing Kaidan for the first time in two years Shepard had expected being reunited with her lost love would've been, better, than it was. Laying on the bed in her cabin the broken Commander closed her eyes and remembered what had just happened only a few hours ago.
0o0o0o0o0
Shepard? Wait. I know that name." The disoriented mechanic said.
"Commander Shepard, Captain of the Normandy, First Human Spectre, Savor of the Citadel." The mechanic looked over to his left as Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko stepped out from behind some crates, speaking those words.
"I thought you were dead, Shepard. We all did." The man said as he approached his lost love.
"It's been too long Kaidan, how've you been?" Shepard smiled at the sight of Kaidan. Finally seeing Kaidan after waking up from two years of behind dead sent electricity through the Commander, she was just thrilled to see the man. But being Shepard, she did not show it.
"How've you been? That's all you can say? You were gone for two years!" The man shakes his head. "I thought we had something Shepard, something real, I...I loved you. Why didn't you try to contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?"
"I'm sorry Kaidan, I was clinically dead. It took them two years to bring me back. I thought you moved on."
"I did move on, well I thought I did. There were rumors in the files that you were alive. I wanted to believe it."
"Files? Wow your slipping." Jack, the bald-headed-crazy-super biotic-violence seeker said.
"Anderson stonewalled me, but there were rumors that you weren't dead. That you were working for the enemy."
Looking at Kaidan with hurt and slight anger Shepard said: "Cerberus and I want the same thing: to save our colonies."
"Are you sure that's all they want? I never expected anything like this; you were working for the enemy. You turned your back on everything we believed in. You betrayed the Alliance. You betrayed me."
"Kaidan, you know me, you know I would only do this for the right reason! You saw it yourself, the Collectors were taking the colonists, and they are working for the Reapers."
"How do you know that? Cerberus could be using the threat of the Reapers to manipulate you. They could be behind this; they could be working with the Collectors."
"Jeez, I hate these guys too, but they're not the only threat out there." Jack spoke again.
"You're letting how you feel about Cerberus's history get in the way of the facts."
"Am I or is it just you feeling that you owe them for saving you? You've changed Shepard but I haven't, I know were my loyalties lie. I am an Alliance solider, and always will be. I've got to report back to the Citadel. They can decide if they believe your story or not."
"Don't leave, I could use someone like you on my crew, it could be like old times."
"No, I will never work for Cerberus. Good-bye Shepard, and be careful."
"Joker—send the shuttle to pick us up, I've had enough of this colony."
0o0o0o0o0
Opening her blue eyes, the thirty one year old got to her feet and slowly made her way over to her desk, as tears poured down her cheeks like a waterfall. Scooping up the picture of Kaidan in her hands the woman let more tears fall onto the picture. "Kaidan, if you loved me you would've understood, you didn't." Suddenly the Commander's sadness turned into anger like the flick of a light switch. She turned and chuckled at the picture frame against the far wall. Instead of hitting the wall the picture frame bounced off of the fish tank. Shepard's aiming had been off because of the millions of tears blurring her vision. She fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably as she held her face in her hands.
Heartbroken Shepard didn't hear the knock at her cabin door. "Commander?" The person behind the door asked. When the door did not open and there was no reply the person asked again. "Commander? It's me, remember? You wanted to speak with me in your cabin?" Yet again when the person was neglected of a reply they just backed up then shoved the door open. "Uff!" The person huffed out as the door swung open and they stumbled into the cabin. Fearing the Commander had seen the stumble they quickly straightened up and looked around the cabin. "Ma'am?" He asked, not seeing Shepard till he looked down at the area near her desk. "Shepard?" He asked. Seeing the woman sitting on her knees, face in her hands as she sobbed. Slowly the brokenhearted Commander lifted her head, looking at the person standing before her. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes already red and puffy from the amount of crying she had done. "Garrus...why did Kaidan hurt me? What did I do to deserve this?" She asked the turian in a broken voice. "You did nothing, Shepard" he told her as he walked to the fallen Commander.
In all the years Garrus had known Shepard he had not once seen her cry. Not even when her beloved friend, Ashley, died. Shepard was the type of person that shoved their emotions deep down inside of them, bottling them up, never to see the light of day. Shepard was always calm and serious, never letting an unwanted emotion slip past her face. Seeing the Commander so weak and broke, so vulnerable, it just killed the turian. He walked over and sat in the barren chair that resided beside Shepard's desk. "Please Shepard, don't cry." He spoke quietly to the woman as took his hand and lifted up her chin so that she was looking at him. The turian stroked the woman's cheek with his three fingered hand. "Such beautiful women like you shouldn't be crying it's very unattractive." He told her, trying to lighten the mood and make her stop crying. Shepard just blinked her blue eyes at Garrus and said nothing, unable to. The turian leaned his head forward, resting his forehead against hers. "Shepard, I know what happened down there and I know he hurt you. But I'll make it all better. I promise Shepard." "Garrus…" Shepard spoke his name quietly then shut her blue eyes and after a few heartbeats opened them again, looking at the turians face. "Is 'Shepard' really the most appropriate way to address your Commander?" She saw his mandibles spread wide in what she could guess was a turian grin. "I'm sorry, Commander." He whispered to her before he securely wrapped his arms around the human and held her close to his chest. Just holding her and enjoying the silence between them.
